USD50m to handle fly ash

Tuesday, 01 December 2009 22:14

South African electricity producer Eskom has signed a contract to equip all six supercritical 800 MW boilers of its currently being built Medupi power station with ash handling technology by the Clyde Bergemann Power Group (CBPG).

The order, worth around USD50m (R400m), has been awarded to Clyde Bergemann Africa (CBZ), the South African subsidiary of the CBPG. CBZ will be responsible for the design, construction, supply and commissioning of the fly ash handling and conditioning systems. This includes the removal of fly ash from the bag houses to the storage silos and thereafter conditioning of fly ash onto overland conveyor belts. The project will be executed in six stages having similar ash conveying systems and two silo aeration and conditioning systems. As part of the company’s contractual obligations with Eskom’s ASGISA requirements (Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa), the majority of equipment will be sourced from within South Africa and CBZ will train a compliment of seven technical people on the project. Further, for the CSDP requirements (Competitive Supply Development Programme) on the contract, CBZ will set up a facility for component manufacturing. CBZ has already successfully installed ash handling systems at Eskom’s power station Matla and Kriel. The fly ash handling order is the second large order CBPG received on the new power station build programme of Eskom, the first being for the supply of the on-load boiler cleaning solution of both Medupi and Kusile power station. This order was awarded to Clyde Bergemann Germany by Hitachi Power Europe in November 2008.CBZ Managing Director, Jaco van der Westhuizen comments: “The bid was fiercely contested by all our traditional competitors. We believe in our products and the technology we offer and we have a track record for delivering excellent service at reasonable cost. Our people are passionate, committed and dedicated and submitted a tender of exceptional quality. I think this gave us the edge.”Franz Bartels, President & CEO of the CBPG, congratulated CBZ for winning the bid. “We are proud to be associated with a project that will meet the challenges of South Africa’s economic growth forecast and we are looking forward to be part of the country’s exciting future.”